In this episode of The Impact Podcast, we look back at “Social Entrepreneurs & Tech For Good Startups” mixer, panel and pitch session hosted by The Expat Woman in San Francisco on May 10, 2016. It took place at a creative co-working space called “We Work” in San Francisco.

Innov8social Founder and CEO, Neetal Parekh, opened the event with a presentation covering the importance of social impact in today’s economic and entrepreneurship landscape, the impetus behind her book, 51 Questions on Social Entrepreneurship, and common questions related to legal structure, business models, and impact measurement that often arise for aspiring and active social entrepreneurs . What followed was a panel discussion with women social entrepreneurs on a spectrum of topics including finding co-founders, prioritizing & measuring social impact, fund raising, adopting a business model and more.

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Meet Sparsh

We met Sparsh at the event. He is an engineer and past past participant in Impactathon. He enjoyed the panel discussions and identified three key topics raised “women in entrepreneurship”, “social impact” and “community”. He felt that the number of women who attended the event is an indicator of the growing interest and awareness in creating social impact. Second topic is about the impact, that these entrepreneurs focus on, and what it means for them. The third one is about community, where the impact is being tied to.

Meet Amanda

Amanda was in the panel discussion. She said it was amazing, to be in the environment of woman who has the same passion and energy. It would help to affirm her goals and inspires her, to take it to the next level.

Meet Daria

Daria was a volunteer at the event . From the evening’s session she noted learning new things and hearing helpful tips from her fellow social entrepreneurs. She learnt how the business model evolves, right from ideation phase. She also learnt, how to take it down the right path and learn from criticism. Also she loves to hear success stories, which keeps her excited and motivated.

Meet Priyam and Vrindha

Priyam, talented co-organizer of this talk and many events and pitch nights hosted by The Expat Woman also shared her perspectives from the evening. She felt that for someone aspiring to be a social entrepreneur, the panel discussions offered valuable insight and takeaways.

Vrindha share her perspective on the evening as a social entrepreneur and social intrapreneur. She reflected on how social impact has evolved in the craft sector and impact investing space. She shared a vision of the future of the intersection of business and social impact where social impact can become part of the landscape, language, and success measures of business.

Meet Christina

Christina joined the event during her trip to San Francisco from New Zealand. Coming from her own deep work in the social impact space, she was inspired hear about the success stories from the panel discussions.

More About Expat Woman

Value Proposition: “When you move to a new country, you often leave behind your friends, your family, your jobs, your favorite stores, restaurants. everything that you are familiar with. No matter where you come from, the frustrations of coping and settling into a new country can be universal.“